Junior Johnson is best known in the "Modern Era" of NASCAR for the powerhouse teams he fielded throughout the "70's and early '80's, with drivers such as Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Niel Bonnett, Bobby Allison numbered among those who had success in his cars.
A little more obscure is his reputation as one of the fastest, most aggressive drivers to come out of the south as the sport began to mature in the mid '50's. He raced for almost 15 years, and had 50 victories, although he never won a Championship.
Junior was a "win or bust" type of driver, who had a rep of being very hard on equipment. With all that, he was recently recognized by Sports Illustrated as NUMERO UNO of the twelve greatest NASCAR drivers of all times.
The car pictured here is the 1959 Chevy that Junior drove in the second Daytona 500 on the oval in 1960. Although this car was not as powerful or even aerodynamic as the Fords and Chrysler products of the day, Junior discovered something during practice in the days leading up to that race that he used to pull off the win - drafting.
He noticed that as he came up behind other cars, or pulled in behind faster cars, that he picked up noticeable speed, that could be utilized to run with more powerful cars, and even pull out of the slipstream with enough momentum to 'slingshot' by them. He kept this to himself, and used it on this new, giant facility to his advantage.
The model was constructed from a Ron Cash resin kit, with chassis and running gear from the recently - released MONOGRAM 1959 Chevy convertible. The Ron Cash resin kit comes as the NASCAR version, with trim removed, and interior modifications.
I added the roll cage, made from 3 mm soldering wire, and the resin six-lug wheel/tire set from Nostalgia Racing Models. All chrome came from the MONOGRAM kit, as did the chassis, dashboard, and engine/running gear. Glass was also from the MONOGRAM kit. Chrome trim is BareMetal foil, and headlight covers were cut from aluminum printers' plate.
This model was built in late 1996, before the "Daytona Kennel Club" decals were available from Yesterday's. The numbers, greyhound graphics, and lettering on the car was all hand drawn on clear decal paper, and a Yesterday's vintage Petty sheet provided most of the period contingency graphics.
From here, Junior went on for another six years, finally hangin' it up early in the 1966 season, to follow his equally illustrious career as a car owner.
For those builders out there who are focussed on building the latest kits with the latest sponsor decals, I suggest you try adding the fourth dimension of time to your collection, plus variety to your building with a project such as this!